Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to establish a financial support scheme for farmers, graziers and landowners impacted by major wildfires, equivalent to the Farming Recovery Fund available for flood events.

Through the Farming Recovery Fund, this Government provided an exceptional, one-off recovery payment to support farmers affected by Storms Babet, Henk and severe wet weather to help cover the uninsured costs of restoring farmland. The Government recognises the impacts of the changing climate and through the recently published Environmental Improvement Plan has committed to fund research to address the risk of wildfire. This will develop our understanding of actions we can take to naturally reduce the risk of wildfires. The Government is not considering introducing a specific fund targeting damages caused by wildfires at this stage.